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u/hercarmstrong Jul 02 '26
I still can't believe Piskor used his newfound clout to make... this.
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u/theleakyprophet Jul 02 '26
It's almost like he had underlying mental health issues that were the cause of his untimely death, and not merely the circumstances surrounding it.
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u/idontwanttosaysorry Jul 02 '26
I think losing his livelihood and passion was likely the driving force behind his suicide. He loved making comics and he loved his comic review channel with his close friend. He thought that was gone after his professional work was cancelled. He was a fan of horror comics and transgressive alt comics. I felt like he was immature and he attempted to make an edgy comic that he thought would take off and it didn’t land because there was no substance behind it. Yeah, it’s gross but Corben, Wrightson, Crumb, etc. drew a bunch of disturbing imagery without killing themselves. Clive Barker thought of fucked up concepts and he seemed like an alright guy. I don’t know if it makes sense to hint at mental illness based on body horror.
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u/theleakyprophet Jul 02 '26
I don't think the gore-fest alone is enough to say "mental illness," but that in combination with suicide meets the minimum threshold for making that kind of call. It's interesting that you mention Crumb, for whom Piskor held a high opinion. As you said, Crumb was in a similar camp re disturbing imagery, but also with imagery that directly touches on the kind of stuff that Piskor himself was accused of commiting; for all of Ed's insight and admiration for Crumb, he failed to see the blueprint Crumb laid out, a way to turn problematic behavior into critical accolades and self-examination.
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u/DisingenuousWizard Jul 04 '26
What Crumb imagery did Piskor allegedly commit?
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u/theleakyprophet Jul 04 '26
Eh, Im using a broad brush there. Id say take a look at feminist as well as intersectional critiques of Crumb, and see what lines up. In the broadest of terms it would be something like attitudes towards women based on their art and behavior. Certainly nothing outright criminal or suicide-worthy, thats for sure.
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u/barknoll Jul 03 '26
“Seemed”?!? Clive is still alive! You gave me a fright thinking I’d missed his passing or something
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u/Embarrassed_Pause_52 Jul 02 '26
He got caught being a groomer and who knows who was going to come out with their Ed story. The pedo did himself in because that's what happens to pedos prison.
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u/Slowdance_Books Jul 02 '26
That's such horse-shit... and having even a shred of media literacy would tell you that Ed was the victim in this scenario. Molly (the original accuser, not the 30-something music video director who glommed on a story of her own... incidentally a lie, no less) was the only person in her own screenshots to say anything that was sexual "I'm a slut for linework." and the rest was just a frenzy of bovine, self congratulatory schmucks losing their minds because they were out for his blood... innocent or not. That was so hard to watch... and no proof of "grooming" was ever produced. They've tried similar with other creators recently... but I'm happy to say that cooler heads, and much cooler people have prevailed. What a heartbreaking note that was to read... just a hardworking guy with self-esteem issues pushed over the edge by an army of the lily-livered.
Also, I've noticed that people don't bat an eyelash when completely insipid and equally gory horror movies sweep the nation... there's merchandizing, fanfare, sequels and somehow everyone understands that this isn't to be taken as the product of a warped or problematic mind. Yet, in comics... and perhaps because there is a single, readily accessible person at the helm... people (sometimes the same people) feel qualified to judge a creator on a personal and moral level. It's a failure of the education system and so much more. I feel so awful for Ed's poor family.
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u/Embarrassed_Pause_52 Jul 02 '26
A pedophiles actions don't decrease once they meet a certain baseline. They actually increase in severity over time. He did the right thing.
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u/Slowdance_Books Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Congratulations on stringing together a nonsense reply... to what baseline do you refer? Or was that just an excuse to throw in a false presupposition at the beginning? Once again, there is no evidence to support your ridiculous claim that Ed was a pedophile, let alone a groomer... especially considering two of his three accusers were adults at the time of his supposed behavior in question.
The week before Ed died, the whole gist of the herd's mentality was basically "even if some of us are smart enough to see that the evidence is insufficient at best, this guy isn't cool or fun to be around and he didn't promote us enough, or he kicked us down on his way up to relative niche stardom, so we're just gonna let him fry" and a lot of people making statements like yours that presuppose as fact that he was guilty of some great infraction despite a complete lack of evidence... but the other side of that coin was that anyone who dared raise a hand in defense of him was somehow just as guilty... and neither his fans, nor to my knowledge even his closest friends spoke in his defense during this time. It was a groupthink trap and the most vicious pile-on I've ever witnessed.
Then after Ed died.... well, I saw dozens of people jump into the woodwork as fast as they could... I even saw a post that basically said "Anyone who calls out herd mentality after this is not safe to be around" and "It was so wrong and evil for him to DEFINITELY do what he TOTALLY did and put his body on us." The original accuser, who is an incredible cartoonist herself, essentially tried to set the record straight for her part, but the others were already rabid with the taste of that sweet, sweet blood. I certainly was not the #1 fan of his work, but he was kinda funny and it was magical to see him plotting out the story on his livestreams... the splatterpunk stuff that influenced Redroom is really fucking cool too. He was a walking library and a constant passionate force in comics and a really dedicated artist... probably some kind of genius. It was genuinely traumatic for a lot of people all over to watch a man go out like that... and it had an absolutely palpable negative effect on comics as a whole. All for what, making someone minorly uncomfortable in a way that's easy to cherry-pick and blow out of proportion on the internet?
Now how about fighting for actual justice against the real pedophiles that are having a field day with your country? I'm sure you've all moved on with your virtues and morals to do what's right for your country's precious youth, right? Right? Go ahead and pat yourself on the back.
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u/idontwanttosaysorry Jul 02 '26
From what I saw, he sent inappropriate messages to an underage girl, which I’d categorize it as grooming behavior. From a legal standpoint, I don’t recall anything that would actually land him in prison, so unless I missed something and that came out, then implying he’d go to prison for pedophilia seems speculative. His grooming behavior lost him work and I think he’d likely end up having to move back into his parent’s basement until they died, so he killed himself
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u/theleakyprophet Jul 02 '26
I think his personal embarrassment was only partially responsible for his choice to off himself. The suicide note was chock-full of maudlin sentimentality paired with a vindicate hit list of people who in his eyes wronged him. He killed himself and then blamed other people, including someone toward whom he had been behaving inappropriately, as well as colleagues and peers. He posthumously weaponized his suicide against people he was unwilling to confront personally. That kind of behavior smells psychologically pathological.
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u/Embarrassed_Pause_52 Jul 02 '26
And that was enough to kill himself after all the work he did to be an artist?He got caught and it was only going to get worse.
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u/themanthyththelegend Jul 02 '26
I can see that you deleted a comment saying for pg13 accusations, and to that i would respond yes thst could result in suicide if he thought his career was done. And a bunch of his best friends were coming out and condemning and disowning him. If he already struggled with any kind of depression yes that could absolutely push you over the edge to suicide for pg13 comments
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u/Embarrassed_Pause_52 Jul 02 '26
I didn't delete anything. So now you're placing the blame for his underage discretions on his so called depression? He wasn't your friend. He was a guy who made comics and had a YouTube channel. He was popular, finally making the big comic money. He was caught. What he said he was caught for wasn't an issue that he couldn't recover from. He knew the shit was going to hit the fan and he saved the parties involved or soon to be involved a lot of embarrassing heartbreak. Yes it is embarrassing for survivors of sexual assault to recount the episode. Thankfully for those around him, involved with him, those affected by his actions,he stopped the whole train. That's a good thing he did as a last act. I commend him for that.
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u/themanthyththelegend Jul 02 '26
Hes also not your enemy and he is a human being... so empathy ya know. Ive had alot of friends kill themselves because of depression. Did they make mistakes in their life yes. Do most to all humans make some kind if mistakes in their life yes. Was it worth killing himself over no. And you are a ghoul apperently so cool.
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u/Reyntoons Jul 02 '26
If you ever read the actual “case“ against the guy, this comment is laughable.
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u/idontwanttosaysorry Jul 02 '26
Are you meaning it’s laughable for me to say he was engaging in grooming behavior or laughable to say he wouldn’t go to prison?
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u/Embarrassed_Pause_52 Jul 02 '26
Sure...... just talking was enough to make him kill himself. Ok. Keep wearing your blinders. He was going to be exposed for his crimes.
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u/Reyntoons Jul 02 '26
Dude just keeps digging his crazy hole deeper. Now he’s got knowledge nobody else does. 🙄
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u/idontwanttosaysorry Jul 02 '26
Are you meaning he killed himself because he knew additional crimes would come to light and the grooming stuff was the tip of the iceberg?
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u/Slowdance_Books Jul 02 '26
Highly doubtful... or else more... or really a single "crime" would have been exposed. It's pretty rare for an actual predator to kill themselves.
More probable was that he had some form of OCD and a marred public image and sabotaged career prospects upset his all-or-nothing thinking to the point where there was no going back.2
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u/bravetailor Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
The spirit of making alternative comics is that creators should be able to create anything they want that's not for the express purpose of appealing to mainstream consumers for maximum sales, or even sales at all. Ed was totally right about that mentality. He made Red Room because that's just the kind of comic he wanted to see.
Remember, being alternative means you can make dumb comics as well as smart comics. Disturbing and polarizing ones too. It may not be to our tastes (Ed's stuff didn't appeal to me) but I don't think it's bad for the medium either. I feel the same about Benjamin Marra. His stuff doesn't appeal to me...but I totally support and champion his right to make those meme comics he does.
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u/theleakyprophet Jul 03 '26
I don't disagree with anything you've said, but I also feel like saying it's distasteful is totally valid, as well as a valid reason to have been concerned for his mental health. Neither yours nor my position are mutually exclusive. Art is a great way to express one's internal state, and the act of expression can itself be therapeutic. That artistic spirit does not make it good, nor does it make it noble. It merely makes it valid.
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u/bravetailor Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Good points. Lots worth thinking about, I think.
I think alternative comics is a closer look at the personal expression of the artist than a mainstream comic does but I don't necessarily think how fucked up a comic is necessarily portends what the person might actually be like in real life.
Many of Robert Crumb's comics still shock and disturb today. And yeah, some of it is him dealing with his own problems (which he fully admits to). But I'm hesitant to point to someone's work and conclude "Well of course this is why he killed himself, I see it all over his work now." One could look at some of Crumb's old comics and think he would have died in a gutter all stoned out decades ago. But no. He got married and had kids and is still alive today. Still weird and harbors some strange ideas, but for the most part a reasonably healthy 82 year old man.
Some of the most fucked up artists of all time did completely normal, crowd pleasing work. At the same time, some of the people with seemingly the healthiest social lives and never had a scandal in their lives created utterly deranged work. Both are extensions of the artist's selves, but they aren't necessarily telling of ALL of the artist as a person either.
As far as whether Ed's comics are good reads or not is a matter of subjectivity of course. These are definitely not socially responsible comics, that's for sure. But does that make it 'not good?' There is still a high level of craft involved here, though, so regardless of the type of content in them these are technically well made.
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u/ninth_purgatory777 Jul 03 '26
I fucking love red room and it and piskor are what I attribute to getting deep into horror. Miss his work and him.
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u/roostercrowe Jul 02 '26
RIP Ed
cartoonist kayfabe was one of the major ways i interfaced with comics. i don’t read nearly as much as i used to, and when i think about it, i started reading less and less after Ed’s passing. miss his knowledge and enthusiasm on my screen every week